Garamendi has stated the obvious, costs have fallen in the light of workers' compensation reforms, but premiums have stayed high while insurers reap windfall profits. Read the entire LA Times article here >>> (link unavailable). Regulations have cut permanent disability benefits in half, a crisis is looming in the future for those injured after January 1, 2005.
Michael Hiltzik writes in the Los Angeles Times: "In recent weeks the
signs have mounted that we are witnessing the twilight of the
Schwarzenegger administration.
One by one, the governor's grand initiatives have come apart. The
box-exploding state reorganization? Abandoned. The balanced state
budget? A non-starter. Government without special interests? A joke.
Bipartisanship in Sacramento? Never happened."
Read the rest of the article here...
According to this article on businesswire (link unavailable), the workers comp insurance market is more competitive since the reforms. So the insurance carriers can recognize a tremendous opportunity for profit. One wonders how long it will be before savings are passed on to employers?
This article in the Sacramento Bee (archived) quotes Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez as follows: "We need to put an end to what the new law on workers' comp is doing to injured workers, or else we are not going to move forward on a budget." The new permanent disability schedule which has been put forward by Administrative Director, Andrea Hoch, cuts permanent disability awards...
Read more about Nunez ready to fight over workers' comp rating schedule
From Gilbert Chan's Sacramento Bee (link unavailable) article:
"Workers' comp has seen the last of John L. Burton," the then-Senate
president pro tem said after hammering out a sweeping compromise
package with the governor.
Workers with 2003-2004 are finding it difficult to end their case. With benefits cut off they don't understand why the "reform" applies to their injury. Read the entire article here >>> (link unavailable).
The rating bureau has recommended a 10.4% reduction in workers' compensation rates. Governor Arnold gets the credit in this editorial comment >>> (archived). It is more likely that these reductions are related to the implementation of medical fee schedules and utilization review that were signed into law by Governor Gray Davis. The SB899 reforms have not yet been implemented. Furthermore, as of this date,...
A recent article in Insurance Journal complains about the rate regulation bill that is making its way through the State Senate. Read the entire article here >>>.
From the San Francisco Bay Guardian: "WHEN THE DEMOCRATIC leaders in the state legislature sit down to negotiate this year's key issues – primarily education and a spending cap – with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, they need to remember what happened the last time they cut a deal with the governor on a major policy issue. That was last year, and the issue was workers'...
Read more about Politicians should remember what happened last time...
SB899/ I am Disabled for Ever
Dear Andrea Hoch, My cervical injury has left me permanently disabled and I am in extreme pain for the rest of my life. SB899 has just started to effect me. A third Co. started sending me letters, telling me what treatments were acceptable, and to my treating physician. I have been this way for a few years now...